Making replaced drums sound more real(Steven Slate samples)

[Andrew07]

The first clip is completely dry. No EQ or compression, some abuse of an L2 on the 2-buss: http://www.cherryhillrecording.com/mp3/Without.mp3

Here are the drums replaced with the Steven Slate drums. The original room mics were left in but I got compressor-stupid and it's too squashed. Also added some Altiverb: http://www.cherryhillrecording.com/mp3/With.mp3

The drums are replaced with Drumagog. Any tweaking tips you guys could offer to make it sound more real?

[Bang]

excellent stuff Andrew! from my crappy laptop speakers, the second clip with the samples reminds me a bit of Nirvana In Utero. Overall, a pretty miraculous before and after.

Here are some thoughts:

I wouldn't put an L2 on anything with a transient unless it was about .5db at the very final mastering stage.

It sounds like you need to smooth out your room and overhead mics. Try cutting some of the low from the overheads and maybe some low mids.

For the samples, make sure you put all of the hits in drumagog and set it on random multisamples. You may very well have done this because it sounds pretty great.

What kick snare sets are these? Snare a Z2? I really think it sounds great and you have a hell of a start, I bet smoothing out those cymbals a bit will make this drum track killer.

[halcyo]

Wow! Those Steven Slate samples really made a big difference, huh!?

My only complaint is that some of the samples seem like they were triggered out of time compared to the original tracks. Kind of a messy rhythm issue on some of the faster fills and things. Myself and others had noticed this on some of the sample demos that they put up for the product as well. I wonder if Drumagog has trouble nailing the trigger spot sometimes? I guess it's more likely that these fantastic samples are just pointing out all the little quirks in the original playing. Seems like you'll have to go in and manually nudge a few hits around anyway. Anyone else hear that?

halcyo

[Bang]

Wow, now I just listened to Andrew's samples on my Proacs. Again, kinda In Uteroish. Is that snare 4?

As for timing, I didn't hear that much problems but I'd make sure that Drumagog is at 4.09 and that the advanced tab has the detail towards the right, as well as auto align on snare.

[Andrew07]

Thanks, Steven. It was kick 6, Snare 2a replaced 100%. Drumagog is set on Advanced, dynamic tracking somewhere around 70%, and the detail slider is almost all the way to the right. It's version 4.09 and each track's Drumagog was set optimized for the drum (bass drum for bass drum snare for snare)

[Andrew07]

Here's a different part of the song. Reduced the compression, rolled off quite a bit on the crash and ride (700hz, they were also panned center in the last clip). Towards the end of these clips, drumagog isn't quite picking up the rolls. This is only like my 5th or 6th time really sitting down with Drumagog though, so I probably haven't tweaked it properly. Is the positional multisamples a GOG only only thing? I can't seem to check the box in 4.09...?

Also, anybody listening to this with a sub? Listen how weak the original kick is compared to the replaced one

www.cherryhillrecording.com/mp3/Without_new.mp3
www.cherryhillrecording.com/mp3/With_new.mp3

[CJWall]

Originally Posted by Andrew07

Also, anybody listening to this with a sub? Listen how weak the original kick is compared to the replaced one

Of course it'll sound weak compared to a fully mix ready compressed and EQ'd kick, haha.

That being said, it sounds good! A little strange and dark sounding though, probably just the MP3 compression, yuck.

Steven's samples rule ass.

[BigJunk]

Holy Moly! Thats quite a difference Andrew! Good sounding drums!! I have Steven's samples too and get similar results but its still pretty amazing every time you hear an A/B. It makes me a bit less jealous of all the big radio mixers. When i met with Steven he played some of my stuff on his system which has a sub and it made a huge difference. I got a Blue Sky 2.1 system and between that and the samples, my mixes are about 90% there.

The rolls I've found to be really hard with any drum replacement, so I go in and do it manually.

What kind of Altiverb reverb did you use. Or are those the Z2 samples?

[DAWgEAR]

A tip someone might find helpful:

If you are using a samlpler or sample playback engine that allows you to adjust the sample playback start position or volume envelope ADSR parameters (and even better if you can automate them), try altering these just a bit (a few milliseconds) on different/successive hits for more variation.

[Andrew07]

I haven't even started going thru the snare rolls on the disc yet. How are you guys using these for rolls? Or are you using the regular hits and pasting them for the rolls?

[Bang]

Andrew, when I see an actual buzz roll like part, I just paste the rolls onto an adjacent two tracks and match them to the original rolls. I will even chop up the rolls and use them as ghost rolls between hits. Once you get used to it, it doesn't take more then ten minutes to do a whole 3:30 song.

I just want to say how fantastic your before and after sounds, great work. What Altiverb impulse you using?

[Andrew07]

Thanks for all your help, dude. I've since switched impulses so I can't remember exactly which sample I used on that clip. I was switching between Auditorium, Wooden medium room 1,2,&3, and the middle 3 drum presets. I didn't do any tweaking really, just slid the 'reverb time' knob to taste. Then I had Sonalksis EQ after the reverb taking out a big chunk of bass and low mids.

[chrisso]

Originally Posted by DAWgEAR

try altering these just a bit (a few milliseconds) on different/successive hits for more variation.

I thought the idea of this set was 'consistency', not variation?

[Bang]

you can have consistent punch and impact while still having variation